I think it was BostonHarbor who first mentioned that this was a new hotel in the heart of LP. Well their website is up now and it looks gorgeous. Still no reviews but I made a reservation for next November (also made one at Aspara in case the reviews come in bad.)

This time I'll give you the website.

http://www.ramayana-laos.com/lpb/index.html

looks really nice

Yep, that's it. I told you it was gorgeous .

glorialf, you must stay there and tell us all about it. The very best thing is the location. More perfect than even the Villa Santi. It's a two minute walk from everything!

First review on trip advisor and it isn't a good one.

Sigh, it looks so good - I want someone here whose opinion I trust to tell us about it. Gloria, will you accept the nomination?

PS I don't feel like trip advisor is as reliable a site for reviews as this board is. Perhaps because I feel I know many of the posters here.

I booked a room there for November 08 based on thoughts posted here but I did hear that it is very noisy very early (4:30 am) since the hotel is right by where the morning market is located. So apparently motorbikes, tuk tuks and lots of people setting up their wares at that hour practically right outside your room. The hotel manager said this was true.

Does anyone know otherwise? Or are there rooms in this hotel away from the noise?
Other hotel suggestions?

Thanks.

Noise doesn't bother me -- I lived in Manhattan for 30 years. But some of the issues in that review do. I have reservations at it and at Apsara and will probably keep them both until I read more reviews.

I have found trip advisor to be fairly reliable for non commercial hotels -- i.e. small places like Baan Orapin. Interestingly, I've also found that I've been more in tune with european reviewers than the american ones. But that could be because of the kind of hotel I like or what I look for in a hotel.

Thanks gloria. I sent an email to Apsara but they never responded. I will try again.

Also, do you know if they only have queen beds at Apsara? That's what the website suggests but someone said the beds were huge. I'm spoiled and we sleep so much better in a King.

Don't forget that if you can hear them they can hear you too! I've walked pass many a hotels with very bad window sound proofing and you could hear everything from phone conversation, people in the room arguing and other things...

Not sure what size beds they have. But they were very good at answering all my questions.

Anyone having trouble reaching Apsara? I have sent 2 emails now to their email contact address asking about rooms and they have not responded to either.

They answered me instantly. This is the email I was using:
[email protected]

Thanks. I turns out the manager there said they have problems sending email responses to sbcglobal email addresses> He eventually used his home email to get back to me. So we are all set.

Oops forget to say they also told me their beds in the superior rooms are 182 cm which is about 1 1/2 inches narrower than a California King so I very happily booked the room.